Qormi protest turned down

A protest by Qormi FC against the result of the BOV First Division match against Qrendi which was abandoned on December 19 and resumed on January 10 was not upheld by the MFA Protests Board.

The board declared the protest as null as it was filed later than twenty four hours after the end of the match. In fact although usually a club can file a protest within two working days from the date of the game,  if the next match in the same competition of any of the teams taking part in the relative match scheduled to be played on a date which is less than five days after the date of the relative match, the protest had to be submitted within twenty four hours.

According to Article 15 (iv) of the MFA Competition Rules:
If a competitive match cannot be played or falls short of its stipulated duration due to circumstances which are not attributable to any of the clubs concerned the match shall be played on another date.
Provided that when the match is played on such other date, the match shall resume from the point in time of the match in which the match was abandoned or discontinued, and the remaining match time must be played.

In such a circumstance the following shall apply:
(a) The Official Match Report Form may contain any of the eligible players who are duly registered with the club of the two participating teams when the match was abandoned or discontinued, irrespective of whether they were actually on the Official Match Report Form for the abandoned or discontinued match, with the exception of players substituted or sent off during the abandoned or discontinued match as well as players suspended for the abandoned or discontinued match;
(b) The players who were in play at the time the match was abandoned or discontinued may not be included on the Official Match Report Form as substitutes when the match is resumed.

However Qrendi made use of Kenneth Abela as a substitute when the game was resumed although he was originally in the starting line-up for the original game.

Qrendi won the game 3-2 and the result is therefore to stand.